Re:Why USB is better than UART
on
Legacy-Free PCs
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· Score: 1
Exactly. It all comes down to the fact that many of the USB features are not things needed for those devices. For example, back when I had an Baby AT case, I had a serial mouse. Guess what? I never had a problem with it, because I don't need massive throughput for my mouse, nor do I need to regularly unplug my mouse (because TAB gets old real fast).
Right now I have a Palm IIIc on my serial port. While it would be nice to have an integrated power supply, I don't sync my palm enough to care how fast it syncs
considering it's centered around a cartoon character. Didn't the CT lottery learn anything from Joe Camel - that cartoon characters and vices don't go together?
I've always found it ironic that gambling is so bad that it needs to be illegal in most places, yet it's OK for state governments to run lotteries - which probably offer worse odds than legal games would. Sounds like rent seeking behavior to me.
I'm pretty sure it pertains to current "do not call" laws against telemarketers. You might be able to stop strangers from calling you, but you don't have the right to make your credit card company, current telephone or cell phone provider, or other service provider, from interupting your dinner with offers.
One deal discussion board I frequent sometimes discusses clearance items at a major discount retailer. When an item goes on clearance, the store takes certain % markdowns each week. Some less ethical people will take items that just went on clearance, hide them somewhere in the stores, and wait long enough for them to go to 75% or 90% off.
While good for the hider, this is obviously bad for the store (which misses the chance to sell the item for 25% off instead of 75% off) as well as the customer who is willing to buy the item at 25% off. With these tags, the store can track down hidden (or accidently misshelved) items and restore them to their proper place
My first thought was Robert Bork, who was appointed by Regan to the Supreme Court but had his confirmation rejected by the senate after an expensive PR campaign by liberal groups.
I suppose it's appropriate too, since a lot of conservatives feel Bork had his record unfairly distorted, much like MSN probably feels about it's page with the Bork Edition, and Opera does about the MSN page itself.
How cheap are CD Burners? This week, OfficeMax ran a promotion where you buy a Cendyne 48x burner and a 100 pack of cd-r's, they would give you the burner free after 2 rebates. Yes, I know alot of people hate rebates, but $25 for a burner and 100 cd's is pretty cheap, and there can't be much in the way of profits in that. I regularly see retailers offering 48x burners for $10 to $20 after rebates. That's cheaper than retail on a CD-ROM.
The article doesn't say how he used information from the logging to add value to the cards, but I would guess he either a)found a way to transfer it from someone else's account (either their stored valued account or a bank account linked to it) or b)he found a way to add money by finding some sort of backdoor or the like to increase the amount shown in the account without actually increasing the amount of cash.
Neither is victimless - in the first, he still stole money from students, in the second he stole money from the college. While he arguably could have done much more damage, he should't be commended for only stealing a little
It would have been much cheaper for Microsoft to bundle some of their own games, like Halo, with the Xbox. Instead they chose to bundle two games which Sega made exclusive to Xbox, and which didn't sell very well in their own right: Sega GT and Jet Set Radio Future.
When you say cheaper, you are ignoring one cost to Microsoft - the lost sales of the popular games. The point of bundling is to give something that it is percieved to have some value, but at the same time not canabalize their own sales. Were Microsoft to give away something for free that most people would buy, they would lose the money on that. By giving away something less likely to be purchased, they keep those sales, while increasing sales of the Xbox because some people will buy anything if it comes with something free.
at my college (small Catholic primarily liberal arts), I had an economics professor who felt curves depended too much on the actions of other students - if you had a given grade, how well you did depended on how well or badly other student. His solution: stretch the grades so that an 85 or above is an A, but don't curve.
Some of the people found the class fairly tough, but I did rather well. The end result was that when I calculated what I needed on the final to get an A in the class, it was a 59.
It seems that the monitor world would be divided into 2 groups... people who buy the cheapest monitors, and people who buy quality/high end monitors. The people who buy the cheapest monitors aren't profitable, and the people who pay extra for quality are exactly the people moving to LCD's. The few high end CRT customers will be willing to pay for 21" or 24" monitors.
Personally, I use an NEC MultiSync 95 CRT as my main monitor, and I love it. But if you want to know how cheap CRT's are, I recently bought a 15" Compaq MV5500 for $150.. with a $150 rebate. Items that are given away tend not to be profitable.
Verizon wasn't making any sort of principled stand to protect its users' privacy, it just wanted to avoid the costs of complying with the (many) subpoenas it will now receive.
Maybe not. When companies recieve subpoenas, they often recieve some reimbursement for copying charges and the like.
My thought for the reason that Verizon was against this is because, as much as they don't want to admit it, P2P music sharing is broadband's killer app. Sure, they can brag that you can load pages faster, not have a second phone line, and that you can watch streaming video, but the main reason many people get broadband is p2p music piracy. If the RIAA makes it hard for people to use p2p, or makes broadband providers block p2p, Verizon will have fewer customers, and hence smaller PROFITS! It's one of those cases where what's good for the company is also good for the customer
I went to a bankrupcy auction a few weeks ago, an engineering and testing company that had gone bankrupt. None of the computer they were selling had been wiped - about 20 laptops in various states of function, and about 2 dozen desktops and servers. The prices were way high, so I didn't buy anything, but I have to wonder what kind of data was on there.
Although as far as wiping the OS's, you could always just tell them you wanted to make sure you didn't violate the EULA.
Very true... in fact there was a case a few years ago, Zippo v Zippo.com, where Zippo (the lighter company, based in PA) sued a dot.com called Zippo.com (an "information delivery" company) for trademark violations in PA court..com claimed that they never did any physical buisiness in PA so PA shouldn't have jurisdiction. Lighter company showed they did have subscribers in PA, hence were doing business there, hence they could be sued in PA.
Same idea - jusisdiction of a court over a company that provided purely electronic product, in a different place, can be sued in a place where that product was used, even without physical presence. Difference is one is a state, the other a country.
Parody, however, is specifically excluded in copyright law. Furthermore, years ago 2 live crew was sued by the copywright holder to the song "pretty woman" for copyright violations for a song of the same name of theirs that sampled the original. I believe the case went as far as the supreme court, and was won by 2 live crew as protected as a work of parody - even though the copyright holder claimed they lost money b/c they were going to sell the rights to a rap version of the song.
it's hard to imagine anything made within the last 10 years or so really being collectible, with the possible exceptions of some Macs and maybe the neXt boxes.
While standard interchangeable parts are great for driving down costs, making repairs easier, making software, hardware and driver development easier, ect, it does reduce the collectibility of hardware. Then again, I guess old computers are considered collectible just because of the fact that they are rare.
But how much of costs are web servers?
on
Linux Is Cheaper
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· Score: 2, Insightful
This study focused on web servers. That's it. Those who act like it means that Linux on desktops or other applactions will also have a lower TCO and hence is superior are reading way too much into the study.
This begs the question - are the costs of operating web servers really that large of a cost of most businesses? Sure, it is for some - companies that sell web hosting, maybe some ecommerce companies, ect. However, for most businesses things like desktops, applications, ect are a much larger cost - and there is no evidence that Linux has a lower TCO there. It would seem much easier to find a linux guru or two to manage your couple web servers than the number you would need for desktop support over Linux. Maybe I'm just prejudice, as I used to desktop support.
A major hotel chain discovered that guests who opted for X-rated flicks spent more money and were less likely to make demands on the hotel staff, according to privacy consultant Larry Ponemon. These low-maintenance customers were rewarded with special frequent-traveler promotions.
Cool. Next time I go on a trip I can order some in room porn and justify it because I'll get better deals in the future!
Yes, it's cool. But plasma TV's are not some new invention, and this one doesn't seem to do anything special. Besides, if I was in the market for a plasma, I think I'd go for the Gateway, which is like half the price. Which is still about $2600 more than I would spend on a TV or monitor.
Let me get this straight. Yesterday we were told that Nintendo was screwed because they were making games that target children and not violent games targeted at teenagers.... Now we get that EA is going to become the next Disney in an article that starts off with the company's dislike of nearly naked hotties and says that they "don't have a violent hit like GTA"
Yes, I know the Nintendo article was in Wired and this one was in Business 2.0, but it still seems ironic that what one writer sees as a positive for one company another sees as a negative for another company.
During the adult industry's conference call, lawyers expressed hope that these media giants might provide "back channel" support, such as the results of previous "prior art" searches in an attempt to defeat the Acacia patents.
Hmm... provide back channel support support to the porn industry.
Also, you realize this means someone at Arcadia had the job of looking at porn sites to track down sites to sue? Get paid to surf porn. That's my dream job. Plus if they win, they get to audit the porn companies
Seems like the article distorts the market a bit..
on
Miyamoto vs. Everyone Else
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· Score: 2, Insightful
In fall 2001, Nintendo's GameCube became the third entry in a hotly contested console battle that includes Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. Currently, Sony has a commanding lead, with 40 million units sold, while Nintendo and Microsoft struggle for a distant second place with 6 million units each
While I would agree that the XBox and Playstation are in direct competition, it seems like Nintendo diferentiates itself enough to compete. Not only do they target the games differently, but Nintendo prices it's consoles $50 lower and puts them in bright colors. They don't play DVD's like PS2 or XBox. It seems like Nintendo's goal is to offer something a little different, less features for a lower price, and that could be a winning strategy. (Not to mention not using CD's as media cuts down on the mod chipping piracy)
Also, I wouldn't say all their fans are kids. 2 of my former coworkers, ages 22 and 27, were huge fans of Super Monkey Ball 3
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Exactly. It all comes down to the fact that many of the USB features are not things needed for those devices. For example, back when I had an Baby AT case, I had a serial mouse. Guess what? I never had a problem with it, because I don't need massive throughput for my mouse, nor do I need to regularly unplug my mouse (because TAB gets old real fast).
Right now I have a Palm IIIc on my serial port. While it would be nice to have an integrated power supply, I don't sync my palm enough to care how fast it syncs
considering it's centered around a cartoon character. Didn't the CT lottery learn anything from Joe Camel - that cartoon characters and vices don't go together?
I've always found it ironic that gambling is so bad that it needs to be illegal in most places, yet it's OK for state governments to run lotteries - which probably offer worse odds than legal games would. Sounds like rent seeking behavior to me.
I'm pretty sure it pertains to current "do not call" laws against telemarketers. You might be able to stop strangers from calling you, but you don't have the right to make your credit card company, current telephone or cell phone provider, or other service provider, from interupting your dinner with offers.
One deal discussion board I frequent sometimes discusses clearance items at a major discount retailer. When an item goes on clearance, the store takes certain % markdowns each week. Some less ethical people will take items that just went on clearance, hide them somewhere in the stores, and wait long enough for them to go to 75% or 90% off.
While good for the hider, this is obviously bad for the store (which misses the chance to sell the item for 25% off instead of 75% off) as well as the customer who is willing to buy the item at 25% off. With these tags, the store can track down hidden (or accidently misshelved) items and restore them to their proper place
My first thought was Robert Bork, who was appointed by Regan to the Supreme Court but had his confirmation rejected by the senate after an expensive PR campaign by liberal groups.
I suppose it's appropriate too, since a lot of conservatives feel Bork had his record unfairly distorted, much like MSN probably feels about it's page with the Bork Edition, and Opera does about the MSN page itself.
How cheap are CD Burners? This week, OfficeMax ran a promotion where you buy a Cendyne 48x burner and a 100 pack of cd-r's, they would give you the burner free after 2 rebates. Yes, I know alot of people hate rebates, but $25 for a burner and 100 cd's is pretty cheap, and there can't be much in the way of profits in that. I regularly see retailers offering 48x burners for $10 to $20 after rebates. That's cheaper than retail on a CD-ROM.
The article doesn't say how he used information from the logging to add value to the cards, but I would guess he either a)found a way to transfer it from someone else's account (either their stored valued account or a bank account linked to it) or b)he found a way to add money by finding some sort of backdoor or the like to increase the amount shown in the account without actually increasing the amount of cash.
Neither is victimless - in the first, he still stole money from students, in the second he stole money from the college. While he arguably could have done much more damage, he should't be commended for only stealing a little
It would have been much cheaper for Microsoft to bundle some of their own games, like Halo, with the Xbox. Instead they chose to bundle two games which Sega made exclusive to Xbox, and which didn't sell very well in their own right: Sega GT and Jet Set Radio Future.
When you say cheaper, you are ignoring one cost to Microsoft - the lost sales of the popular games. The point of bundling is to give something that it is percieved to have some value, but at the same time not canabalize their own sales. Were Microsoft to give away something for free that most people would buy, they would lose the money on that. By giving away something less likely to be purchased, they keep those sales, while increasing sales of the Xbox because some people will buy anything if it comes with something free.
at my college (small Catholic primarily liberal arts), I had an economics professor who felt curves depended too much on the actions of other students - if you had a given grade, how well you did depended on how well or badly other student. His solution: stretch the grades so that an 85 or above is an A, but don't curve.
Some of the people found the class fairly tough, but I did rather well. The end result was that when I calculated what I needed on the final to get an A in the class, it was a 59.
I would first have to get a job in IT.
(current status: unemployed recent college grad. MIS major).
It seems that the monitor world would be divided into 2 groups... people who buy the cheapest monitors, and people who buy quality/high end monitors. The people who buy the cheapest monitors aren't profitable, and the people who pay extra for quality are exactly the people moving to LCD's. The few high end CRT customers will be willing to pay for 21" or 24" monitors.
Personally, I use an NEC MultiSync 95 CRT as my main monitor, and I love it. But if you want to know how cheap CRT's are, I recently bought a 15" Compaq MV5500 for $150.. with a $150 rebate. Items that are given away tend not to be profitable.
then maybe I could find my stolen wheels and tires !
Verizon wasn't making any sort of principled stand to protect its users' privacy, it just wanted to avoid the costs of complying with the (many) subpoenas it will now receive.
Maybe not. When companies recieve subpoenas, they often recieve some reimbursement for copying charges and the like.
My thought for the reason that Verizon was against this is because, as much as they don't want to admit it, P2P music sharing is broadband's killer app. Sure, they can brag that you can load pages faster, not have a second phone line, and that you can watch streaming video, but the main reason many people get broadband is p2p music piracy. If the RIAA makes it hard for people to use p2p, or makes broadband providers block p2p, Verizon will have fewer customers, and hence smaller PROFITS! It's one of those cases where what's good for the company is also good for the customer
Switzerland, not sweden. The swedish saabs threw me off.
I went to a bankrupcy auction a few weeks ago, an engineering and testing company that had gone bankrupt. None of the computer they were selling had been wiped - about 20 laptops in various states of function, and about 2 dozen desktops and servers. The prices were way high, so I didn't buy anything, but I have to wonder what kind of data was on there.
Although as far as wiping the OS's, you could always just tell them you wanted to make sure you didn't violate the EULA.
Very true... in fact there was a case a few years ago, Zippo v Zippo.com, where Zippo (the lighter company, based in PA) sued a dot.com called Zippo.com (an "information delivery" company) for trademark violations in PA court. .com claimed that they never did any physical buisiness in PA so PA shouldn't have jurisdiction. Lighter company showed they did have subscribers in PA, hence were doing business there, hence they could be sued in PA.
Same idea - jusisdiction of a court over a company that provided purely electronic product, in a different place, can be sued in a place where that product was used, even without physical presence. Difference is one is a state, the other a country.
Parody, however, is specifically excluded in copyright law. Furthermore, years ago 2 live crew was sued by the copywright holder to the song "pretty woman" for copyright violations for a song of the same name of theirs that sampled the original. I believe the case went as far as the supreme court, and was won by 2 live crew as protected as a work of parody - even though the copyright holder claimed they lost money b/c they were going to sell the rights to a rap version of the song.
it's hard to imagine anything made within the last 10 years or so really being collectible, with the possible exceptions of some Macs and maybe the neXt boxes.
While standard interchangeable parts are great for driving down costs, making repairs easier, making software, hardware and driver development easier, ect, it does reduce the collectibility of hardware. Then again, I guess old computers are considered collectible just because of the fact that they are rare.
This study focused on web servers. That's it. Those who act like it means that Linux on desktops or other applactions will also have a lower TCO and hence is superior are reading way too much into the study.
This begs the question - are the costs of operating web servers really that large of a cost of most businesses? Sure, it is for some - companies that sell web hosting, maybe some ecommerce companies, ect. However, for most businesses things like desktops, applications, ect are a much larger cost - and there is no evidence that Linux has a lower TCO there. It would seem much easier to find a linux guru or two to manage your couple web servers than the number you would need for desktop support over Linux. Maybe I'm just prejudice, as I used to desktop support.
A major hotel chain discovered that guests who opted for X-rated flicks spent more money and were less likely to make demands on the hotel staff, according to privacy consultant Larry Ponemon. These low-maintenance customers were rewarded with special frequent-traveler promotions.
Cool. Next time I go on a trip I can order some in room porn and justify it because I'll get better deals in the future!
Yes, it's cool. But plasma TV's are not some new invention, and this one doesn't seem to do anything special. Besides, if I was in the market for a plasma, I think I'd go for the Gateway, which is like half the price. Which is still about $2600 more than I would spend on a TV or monitor.
Let me get this straight. Yesterday we were told that Nintendo was screwed because they were making games that target children and not violent games targeted at teenagers.... Now we get that EA is going to become the next Disney in an article that starts off with the company's dislike of nearly naked hotties and says that they "don't have a violent hit like GTA"
Yes, I know the Nintendo article was in Wired and this one was in Business 2.0, but it still seems ironic that what one writer sees as a positive for one company another sees as a negative for another company.
During the adult industry's conference call, lawyers expressed hope that these media giants might provide "back channel" support, such as the results of previous "prior art" searches in an attempt to defeat the Acacia patents.
Hmm... provide back channel support support to the porn industry.
Also, you realize this means someone at Arcadia had the job of looking at porn sites to track down sites to sue? Get paid to surf porn. That's my dream job. Plus if they win, they get to audit the porn companies
In fall 2001, Nintendo's GameCube became the third entry in a hotly contested console battle that includes Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. Currently, Sony has a commanding lead, with 40 million units sold, while Nintendo and Microsoft struggle for a distant second place with 6 million units each
While I would agree that the XBox and Playstation are in direct competition, it seems like Nintendo diferentiates itself enough to compete. Not only do they target the games differently, but Nintendo prices it's consoles $50 lower and puts them in bright colors. They don't play DVD's like PS2 or XBox. It seems like Nintendo's goal is to offer something a little different, less features for a lower price, and that could be a winning strategy. (Not to mention not using CD's as media cuts down on the mod chipping piracy)
Also, I wouldn't say all their fans are kids. 2 of my former coworkers, ages 22 and 27, were huge fans of Super Monkey Ball 3